Those looking for the Fountain of Youth should consider a trip to the Delaware Shore—more specifically a trip to Funland on the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach, a family-owned business now in its G4, or fourth generation, of management.
2022 Family Photo
Since 1967, Al and Don and their wives, children and now grandchildren—including members of the Fasnacht, Henschke, Curry, Ginder, Hendricks, Darr and Golaszewki families—have been have been overseeing every aspect of fun at their amusement park.
Recent studies have found that remaining active and keeping human connections help to determine long-term happiness and health. Mix that with rides, games, squeals of delight, and sunup to sundown fun, and you have the perfect recipe for a happy life.
“It was a magical childhood,” says G4 Lauren Fasnacht Golaszewski, Al’s granddaughter. “To be at the beach every day with your family running around an amusement park—it doesn’t get any better than that. … You really felt a sense of purpose and place that you were a part of something big that meant something to people.”
Lauren and her husband, Greg Golaszewski, are now part of the G4 running Funland with their parents, grandparents and children alongside them. Al, who was inducted into the Pennsylvania Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame in 2019, still spends May through mid-September in Rehoboth, breaking down boxes, mingling with customers and sitting on a bench on the boardwalk. Don is a phone call away for troubleshooting consults about ride maintenance, for which he holds superpowers.
Each family member seems to have an area of expertise, but everyone comes together when needed to make things run smoothly. “We form task forces of family members who are interested in helping to decide things,” Lauren says.
“Everybody has their job to do, but … nobody walks by somebody else who needs help,” says Barb Fasnacht, Lauren’s mother. “When everybody’s making decisions, they’re making decisions for the betterment of the park.”
Affordable Fun
Although ride ticket prices have always stayed low, this season, due to increased labor, maintenance, parts and prize costs, they will increase to 75 cents per ticket with discounts for 50 tickets at $33 (66 cents each), and 100 tickets for $55 (55 cents each). Kiddie rides cost just one ticket, while some of the bigger rides like the Haunted Mansion cost six tickets to ride. The newest ride in the park is the Free Spin, which replaced the Free Fall in 2017. In 2023, new bumper cars replaced the old ones.
This season, the park’s most popular game, The Derby Race, gets an upgrade, and a new Duck Pond game has been added. Neil Fasnacht (Al’s son, Barb’s husband, and Lauren’s dad) is the game wizard at Funland, picking fan favorites and making it easy to win the popular plush prizes that bring so many smiles.
Funland was also known for staying open until the customers went home.
Covid changed the routine, and now Funland has more set hours. During peak season between June 8 and August 24, games are open 10 a.m.-11 p.m. and rides 1-10:30 p.m.
Amusing Purchase
In 1956, the Fasnacht family purchased Willow Mill Park, a picnic park on the Conodoguinet Creek in Mechanicsburg. It had a few rides, food stands, an arcade, concessions and games. In 1961, before their kids went back to school, the family decided to spend a few days at Indian River Inlet in Delaware. They went to Sport Center on the Rehoboth boardwalk to check out the newest ride, the Helicopter, something they were interested in for Willow Mill.
They spoke with the owner about the ride, only to have him ask if they wanted to buy Sport Center. Initially, Al told him that they already operated one headache and didn't need another one. Big Al agreed, but by the next morning, both had changed their minds. They set a closing date to
buy Sport Center, but the week before it arrived in March of 1962, the Great Atlantic Storm battered the coast and destroyed the boardwalk. Although its doors and floors were gone, and it had sunk about 19 inches, Sport Center’s two-story building survived, and the Fasnachts decided to continue with the purchase.
“I think we made the right decision, obviously,” G2 Neil Fasnacht says with a laugh. That right decision being the Funland people know and love today.
The family sold Willow Mill Park in 1967, devoting themselves solely to Funland. Willow Mill Park operated until the early 1990s and is now an 18-acre community park owned by Silver Spring Township.
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Local Fun, Too
Neighborhood kids who grew up near the Fasnacht families could point to their annual block party as one of their favorite days of the year, as Neil would bring games and prizes from Funland to fuel the fun in Hershey, too.
Throughout the years, the Fasnacht family has been generous in the local community with involvement in the Hershey and Hummelstown Food Banks, Hershey History Center, their church and other charitable organizations. Many Fasnachts were involved with the Boy Scouts, and the family in general has “a strong sense of service.”
“In the offseason, we have time to give and service is a big part of that,” Barb says
Labor of Love
Al Fasnacht, 95
As the business has grown, so has the labor force. High school and college students—some from the Rehoboth area—have always fueled the workforce, but so do international students. More than 150 seasonal workers will be hired this summer.
Chris Lindsley, who worked at Funland from 1980 to 1985, answered the call for help post-Covid to come back and work for two nights when they were short-staffed. “It was a lot harder than it was 35 years ago,” he says with a laugh. Lindsley says he thinks of the Fasnachts as his own family.
“I learned so much from Al and his family and loved working there," he says. In 2019, he wrote and published a book about Funland, "Land of Fun." It includes all of the history and many stories from the family along with tributes called “My Funland Story” from many faithful patrons.
With the philosophy that “you don’t work for us, you work with us,” and where grandchildren—the G5s—can run around with their grandparents and great-grandfather every day, this business is truly unique. Family members break every morning at 10:30 for coffee before the afternoon crowds come in. “Someone makes coffee, we talk, we sit outside on benches and visit. Kids run around the jungle,” Lauren says. It’s a fun land, indeed
Funland Rehoboth
6 Delaware Ave, Rehoboth Beach | 302-227-1921
